II 

Calendar No. 423 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1563 

[Report No. 115–255] 

To authorize the Office of Fossil Energy to develop advanced separation 

technologies for the extraction and recovery of rare earth elements and 

minerals from coal and coal byproducts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 13, 2017 

Mr. MANCHIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

MAY 22, 2018 

Reported by Ms. MURKOWSKI, without amendment 

A BILL 

To authorize the Office of Fossil Energy to develop advanced 

separation technologies for the extraction and recovery 

of rare earth elements and minerals from coal and coal 

byproducts, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rare Earth Element 

3 Advanced Coal Technologies Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the United States is largely dependent on 

7 foreign imports for the domestic supply of rare earth 

8 elements and minerals in the United States; 

9 (2) as of the date of enactment of this Act, the 

10 United States does not have domestic production ca11 pability for, or a guaranteed supply chain of, rare 

12 earth elements and minerals, particularly in times of 

13 national crisis; 

14 (3) access to certain rare earth elements and 

15 minerals is critical for the national security of the 

16 United States; 

17 (4) China maintains a near monopoly of the 

18 global supply chain of rare earth elements and min19 erals; 

20 (5) the successful development of commercially 

21 viable refining methods of rare earth elements and 

22 minerals from coal byproducts could lead to new eco23 nomic development opportunities in parts of the 

24 United States most affected by the downturn of the 

25 coal industry; 

26 (6) rare earth elements— 


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1 (A) comprise 17 elements on the periodic 

2 table, including— 

3 (i) the lanthanides, which are lan4 thanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium 

5 (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), 

6 samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gado7 linium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium 

8 (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium 

9 (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu); 

10 and 

11 (ii) transition elements, which are 

12 scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y); and 

13 (B) can be divided into— 

14 (i) light rare earth elements, which 

15 are lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseo16 dymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), pro17 methium (Pm), and samarium (Sm); and 

18 (ii) heavy rare earth elements, which 

19 are scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), europium 

20 (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dys21 prosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), 

22 thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lute23 tium (Lu); and 

24 (7) it is in the interest of the Federal Govern25 ment— 


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1 (A) to guide responsible domestic produc2 tion of rare earth elements and minerals to en3 sure industry and consumers in the United 

4 States have access to a reliable domestic supply 

5 of valuable rare earth elements and minerals; 

6 and 

7 (B)(i) to identify the areas of highest po8 tential interruption in the global supply chain of 

9 rare earth elements and minerals; and 

10 (ii) to strengthen the position of the 

11 United States in that supply chain by miti12 gating potential interruptions through the de13 velopment of advanced coal technologies. 

14 SEC. 3. PROGRAM FOR EXTRACTION AND RECOVERY OF 

15 RARE EARTH ELEMENTS AND MINERALS 

16 FROM COAL AND COAL BYPRODUCTS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy, acting 

18 through the Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy (re19 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall carry 

20 out a program under which the Secretary shall develop 

21 advanced separation technologies for the extraction and 

22 recovery of rare earth elements and minerals from coal 

23 and coal byproducts. 

24 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

25 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 


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1 out the program described in subsection (a) $20,000,000 

2 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2025. 

3 SEC. 4. ASSESSMENT AND REPORT. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy, 

6 in consultation with the Secretary of Defense (referred to 

7 in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall carry out, and 

8 submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Re9 sources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 

10 Commerce of the House of Representatives— 

11 (1) an assessment— 

12 (A) identifying and ranking the rare earth 

13 elements that— 

14 (i) are most important to consumers 

15 in the United States; 

16 (ii) are most jeopardized in the global 

17 supply chain; and 

18 (iii) will have the greatest impact to 

19 consumers in the United States in the 

20 event of a disruption in the global supply 

21 chain; 

22 (B) evaluating the development of ad23 vanced separation technologies for the extrac24 tion and recovery of rare earth elements and 

25 minerals from coal and coal byproducts (reVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 May 22, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1563.RS S1563

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1 ferred to in this subsection as the ‘‘tech2 nologies’’); 

3 (C) identifying and evaluating the results 

4 of the development of the technologies, includ5 ing the results with respect to the extraction 

6 and recovery of each rare earth element; 

7 (D) determining what the technologies are 

8 capable of producing; 

9 (E) evaluating the performance of the 

10 technologies, including what the technologies— 

11 (i) succeed and fail at accomplishing; 

12 and 

13 (ii) can and cannot do cost-effectively; 

14 and 

15 (F)(i) evaluating the market impact on 

16 each rare earth mineral of the penetration of 

17 commercially viable technologies; and 

18 (ii) how the penetration of commercially 

19 viable coal-based technology will impact the 

20 global supply chain; and 

21 (2) a report analyzing— 

22 (A) the additional resources required for 

23 the development of commercial-ready deploy24 ment of technologies that are second generation 

25 and transformational; and 


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1 (B) the market impact of processes to 

2 treat and recover rare earth elements and min3 erals from sludge generated during treatment of 

4 acid mine drainage from coal mines. 

5 (b) REQUIREMENT.—In carrying out the assessment 

6 and report under subsection (a), the Secretary shall focus 

7 on the rare earth elements determined by the Secretary 

8 to be most critical to the national security of the United 

9 States. 


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Calendar No. 423 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1563 

[Report No. 115–255] 

A BILL 

To authorize the Office of Fossil Energy to develop 

other purposes. minerals from coal and coal byproducts, and for tion and recovery of rare earth elements and advanced separation technologies for the extracMAY 22, 2018 

Reported without amendment 


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